Let's just jump right in!

LCO vs Hokuto and Ozaki (09/15/99): This is one I hadn't seen recommended. It's a battle of badasses...it's worth a try, right? Oh yes, its so very worth it. Oz & Akira ambush LCO at the entrance way. And it is mayhem from that until the finish. Chairs, blood, guard rails, no actual tagging, 16+ minutes long...if you're a FMW, ECW fan then this exactly what you want. It isn't always pretty. Everyone looks legitimately beat up. It's '99 so if definitely is more reliant on spots than 1994. They don't go for "epic wrestling,"they go for fight.  They succeed and we get a near classic in my book. I have seen this get a poor rating from a reliable source but that rating seemed pretty severe so I gave this a shot. Really glad that I did.

Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura (09/15/99): Aja Kong was amazing on offense and defense. There were times she reminded me of Stan Hansen - always fighting. Satomura was in the fight of her life. She's much smaller than Kong, less experienced and Aja is angry. Meiko is tough as any of the GAEA wrestlers and has a ton of heart too. So this is a punishing match with Aja beating the crud out of the youngster at seemingly every turn. But you're ecstatic once Satomura gets Kong reeling. The problem here is Satomura really only uses (or tries to use) the same 3-4 moves towards the end of the match. Her lack of variety is excusable because 1) she's young 2) Aja varies her offense/defense enough for both. I felt her mid-match stuff was excellent though. Some think this is a classic but I don't (although I think it's  a classic performance by Aja Kong who was giving off best Joshi of all time vibes here). This is a great match though and one you absolutely need to see if you want to watch GAEA. This is another chapter and step forward for Meiko Satomura.

Lioness Asuka vs Chigusa Nagayo (09/15/99): There were some really great high spots with tables in the beginning. In fact they did some painful looking stuff on and off the ramp as well. I also liked the grappling here. I liked this match but it had a strange layout. Each of those parts were pretty much separate from each other. There's the high spot middle then the old school grappling and kicking and the final third returns back to the hard-core wrestling stuff. I guess there were no real nuanced transitions. Additionally I felt they went back to the old days of Chigusa getting beaten up most of the match. Or it seemed that way. This isn't a story in 1999 for Chigusa although I think it's the one that they were trying to tell. I liked this though and am a fan of both so this was fun. Their 07/18 was better if only because it was organized better... but it was probably just better overall if I remember correctly.

Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada & KAORU & Meiko Satomura vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato (09/22/99): jip 9 minutes or so (we've been lucky with a good streak of full matches until now). The was pretty good stuff. Lotsa action, some neat spots..Nice to KAORU and Yamada. As you can tell Sonoko Kato has aligned herself with the heels. Yeah this is fun stuff

Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato (10/03/99): joined in progress and a little clipping (but maybe a minute is missing overall). This was a small show but a big time effort from Hokuto and Kato. This was pretty good stuff and looks to make Asuka & Kato babyface as Akira, Oz and her underlings the true heels. Chigusa even comes out to try and stop them. Kato bleeds...yeah this is enjoyable stuff.

High Spurt 600 Tournament Final: Sonoko Kato vs. Meiko Satomura (10/11/99): Fuuuucckk...that was an awesome match! This is an absolute under the radar classic battle in my opinion. Two rivals meet...Satomura is Chigusa and Kato is Lioness in the story of GAEA. There's more there but that's what you need to now. And this is intense, competitive, dramatic stuff from bell to bell. It's only 11 minutes or so but everything is so fierce and stiff. It's been awhile since I watched Yoshida in Arsion but if you dig that you want to see this. This shorter match definitely benefits the youngsters while on their own. This is a classic. Also, I watched this after Kong vs Meiko and this is a better match to me because of the speed, intensity and story. 

Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada (10/23/99): 7 minute match but a few minutes of scrapping afterwards. I'm really digging the heel team of Ozaki and Hokuto (and gang) since it's a bit of something different. Fun stuff!

Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato (11/13/99): At this point I'm just tacking on matches I want to watch. The tag scene is super strong. This is jip a couple minutes but this is really good. I really dug Chikayo Nagashima with Ozaki. She's tempered by the veterans here. Kato is awesome as ever... I may like her more than Meiko..or at least I dig the Asuka/Kato a bunch. We get some outside interference here but that's Oz's thing and if you understand GAEA is like ECW/FMW type rules then you will have no problem

Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & KAORU (12/12/99): Fun match...again more shenanigans from the heels. These last three matches I wouldn't say are the "very best of GAEA" but I'm enjoying them.

Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato vs. Aja Kong & Chikayo Nagashima (12/12/99):
Jip and only 8 minutes long. These matches are all pretty short and I feel like that's where they're going in terms of match length. I think shorter contests are beneficial to the younger girls who don't know how to fill a 20 minute match and for the veterans, its a bit easier on their bodies. Lioness is 40 years old here for instance... and they're not doing head locks & abdominal stretches... getting hit in the head, kicked etc. has got to wear on ya! Anyway, this was a very good all action match. There were some really cool spots with Nagashima . I definitely like her paired up with a vet like Kong or Ozaki. Asuka & Sonoko Kato continue to be a great pairing.

So I have finally finished my GAEA goal for 2023 but, 1999 has been so good that I am going to keep going into 2000. 1999 was definitely a really strong year and did not disappoint. Again, at my core I'm a ECW/FMW/BJW/W*ING/Attitude Era etc. fan. That's the stuff that made me love wrestling as a teenager and GAEA in '99 definitely speaks to that. I mean this is contemporaneous with that. It is a product of the time (although in all fairness GAEA was always a brawling heavy company). If you're not looking for that then this might not be for you. If it is then all of these matches are available on YouTube so if you're interested, go check'em out. Mita/Shimoda vs Ozaki/Hokuto and Kong vs Satomura from 09/15 are worth your time as is Sonoko Kato vs Meiko Satomura (10/11). These matches exemplify the brawling & shoot style that is GAEA '99.

Thanks for reading folks! Hang in there!